


My Best Friend

by Gerstein03



Category: Bridge to Terabithia (2007), Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
Genre: F/M, Leslie Doesn't Die, Leslie POV (mostly)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25176826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gerstein03/pseuds/Gerstein03
Summary: Jess invites Leslie to the Art Museum. Five years later on Valentine's Day, new feelings make their way to the surface
Relationships: Jesse Oliver Aarons/Leslie Burke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	My Best Friend

Leslie was awoken when her father came into the room and told her that Jess was there to see her. She got up and went downstairs.

“Hey Jess.” She smiled. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you’d like to come to D.C.” Jess said. “Mis Edmunds is taking me to the art museum.”

“Oh that sounds fun!” Leslie exclaimed. “Can I go Dad?”

“Sure.” Bill answered.

“Race you to the car!” Leslie challenged once they were out the door. The pair took off running and hopped in the back of Miss Edmund’s car.

“You guys ready?” She asked.

“Yep!” Leslie smiled.

\---

“That was fun.” Leslie grinned.

“Yeah it was great seeing all those different artworks.” Jess replied.

“It’s still light out. Wanna head to Terabithia?” Leslie asked.

“Sure.” Jess replied. They raced into the woods. As usual, Leslie beat Jess to the crossing. She grabbed the rope and swung across. Then there was a snap, a shout, and everything went black. When she woke up, she was met by a blinding white light. Jess had talked about how heaven was described as a white light. Then the sounds came into focus and she realized that she wasn’t dead. She was at the hospital.

“Oh thank God!” She heard her father say.

“We were so worried!”Her mom gasped.

“What happened?” Leslie groaned.

“The rope you and Jess would swing across snapped.” Her dad explained. “You fell into the water and hit your head. Jess jumped in and pulled you out. He ran back to our house and came to get us and we brought you to the hospital.”

“Jess? Where is he? Is he here?” Leslie asked hopefully.

“I’m sorry honey but he had to go home.” Her mom answered. “Don’t worry you’ll be able to hang out with him once you get out of here in a couple days.”

“Okay.” Leslie sighed. “Am I gonna be okay?”

“The doctor says to have a concussion so you’ll need to take it easy for a couple weeks but you’re gonna be fine.” Her father answered. When she got out of the hospital a couple days later, Jess came over and said he had a surprise for her.

“I promise you’re gonna like it.” Jess smiled. She followed him out to the crossing, deciding to walk instead of run since her head was fuzzy.

“Hey Jess?” Leslie said.

“Yeah?” Jess responded.

“I just wanted to thank you.” She smiled.

“It’s no big deal.” Jess replied sheepishly.

“No it is.” Leslie insisted. “You saved my life. If you hadn’t been there I probably would’ve drowned. Thank you. I’m just bummed we won’t be able to cross the gap anymore.”

“That’s actually what I wanted to show you.” Jess smiled. “I got my dad to help me with a little construction project. Took us three days to finish but I think you’ll like it.” When she saw it, Leslie was amazed.

“Whoa!” She gasped. Jess had put together a large bridge they could use to cross the creek and painted it gold. “It’s amazing!”

“I thought you’d like it.” Jess smiled. “Come on. Terabithia awaits.”

\---

**Five years later…**

Leslie was bored. She listened to her math teacher drone on and on about quadratics and other stuff. Math had always been her least favorite subject. Everything was always straightforward and the same every time you did a problem. Two plus two was always four. Five times five was always twenty-five. There were no deeper meanings behind the numbers on the page the way there was in in writing. There was no freedom to create the way there was in art. Everything was structured and exact and she hated it. She felt Jess tapping her shoulder and pass her a piece of paper. Unfolding it, she saw that he’d drawn a little picture of Odysseus clinging to a tiny timber as he floated in the sea after his crew had all died and a thought bubble that read “You fuckers had to kill the damn cow”. The drawing was a reference to the part in The Odyssey they’d made it to for their English class. She stifled a laugh and flashed Jess a smile. Even after five years, he still knew how to cheer her up. When they’d started both middle and high school, they’d made a point of making sure they had all the same classes together. Since they’d always worked it out together so they’d have the same classes, their councilors never minded much and were willing to accommodate them. Thankfully after math was their lunch period.

“God I hate math.” Leslie groaned as they walked to lunch.

“You said it.” Jess sighed. “Staying awake is almost a chore.”

“We’re on for watching stupid romcoms and laughing on Valentine’s Day Right?” Leslie smirked.

“Of course.” Jess grinned. “And it’s Single’s Awareness Day.”

“Right.” Leslie smiled. “I always look forward to our Single’s Awareness Day tradition.”

“I remember when you refused to watch TV.” Jess chuckled.

“My parents always said it rots your brain.” Leslie shrugged. “Then you made a big point about the imagination and artistic creativity that was put on display in movies and TV.”

“I didn’t say it like that.” Jess said. “I said watch Avatar: The Last Airbender and tell me what you think.”

“And I saw that there was amazing creativity and imagination on display.” Leslie grinned. “But I still refuse to watch those big blockbusters like the new Star Wars or any of those Marvel movies.”

“You wouldn’t be Leslie if you didn’t.” Jess laughed.

“Hey Jess?” Leslie said.

“Yeah?” Jess replied.

“I was wondering if you wanted to try playing Dungeons and Dragons with me.” Leslie said. “My parents got me a bunch of stuff and I thought it might be fun. It’s a lot of fantasy stuff like we used to do in Terabithia.”

“Sure.” Jess shrugged. “I think it could be fun.”

“Great!” Leslie grinned excitedly. Even though they had grown out of playing pretend in the woods, Leslie and Jess still held Terabithia close to their hearts. They would often go into the treehouse they’d built to just be away from everything. Leslie had taken to writing short stories about Terabithia, some she’d even written for school projects while Jess enjoyed creating the world on the canvas and had also turned those in for assignments. “I think we should eventually find some other people to play with us. That way we’ll have a bigger party. But for now it can be just us.” No sooner than they sat down in the cafeteria, Madison Carly came over to them.

“Hey Jess, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Valentine’s Day dance with me.” She said. Leslie tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in her gut that she couldn’t quite define. She brushed it off, already knowing what Jess was going to answer.

“No Les and I were just gonna hang out and watch sappy romantic movies and laugh at them.” Jess answered. “Besides, I hate dances.”

“Oh okay.” Madison replied, clearly disappointed. Leslie didn’t miss the bitter look the girl threw her way. It was a common occurrence. Jess was the star of the track team and was a very attractive person, having grown leaner and more muscular as he got older, something that hadn’t escaped her attention as much as she tried to ignore it. Girls in school were often jealous of how close she and Jess were and whenever a girl asked him out, they would always look at her with spite when he turned them down in favor of hanging out with her, something that never failed to fill Leslie with a warm smug feeling she couldn’t quite explain.

“Out of curiosity, how come you never say yes when a girl asks you out?” Leslie asked. “Not that I’m complaining since you always turn them down to hang out with me.”

“Not interested in any of them.” Jess shrugged. “The only girl I’m interested in spending time with besides my sisters and mother is you.” Leslie lowered her head to hide her blush.

“What would you say if I asked you out on a date?” Leslie asked, before she could stop herself. Once the words came out of her mouth, she mentally kicked herself.  _ Damn now things are gonna be awkward. _ Leslie thought.  _ He’s my best friend and now that’s totally ruined! _

“I’d say I’ll pick you up at eight.” Jess answered, a shiteating grin plastered across his face. It took a minute for Leslie to take in what he’d said.

“Wait what?” Leslie was surprised but she felt oddly overjoyed by it.

“If I’d known you were gonna ask I wouldn’t’ve spent all week working on this.” Jess chuckled. He reached into his backpack and pulled out an unfinished Valentine's Day card, beautifully drawn with a message written in branches. “Will you go out with me”.

“Jess…” Leslie breathed, tears welling up in her eyes. “Yes I will.”

“Then can we move laughing at sappy romcoms to Saturday?” Jess asked. “I have something in mind.”

“What is it?” Leslie asked.

“Trust me.” Jess smirked. “I’ll be at your house at 8:00 on Friday.”

\---

Friday couldn’t get there fast enough. Jess spent the rest of the week working out his plan and that night, as he got ready, his father came in while he tied his tie.

“Good luck son.” Jack smiled. “You’ll do great.”

“Thanks Dad.” Jess replied. Leslie was also extremely excited. She dragged May-Belle off the bus and into her house to help her get ready, much to the amusement of Jess. When she heard the doorbell ring, her heart skipped a beat.

“Hey Jess.” Bill said as Jess came inside.

“Hey Mr. Burke.” Jess replied nervously. “Is Leslie ready?”

“She’ll be down in a moment.” Bill smiled. “You know we all knew this was gonna happen eventually.” When Leslie came down the stairs, Jess was in awe. She looked beautiful. Once she stood before him, they both started laughing since this was exactly the kind of thing that would happen in one of the romcoms they laughed at.

“You kids have fun now!” Leslie’s father called.

“So where are we going?” Leslie asked.

“You’ll see.” Jess smiled. Leslie was intrigued and followed Jess to Terabithia. As they walked across the golden bridge, she saw the frayed ends of the rope they used to swing on, the rope that snapped the day Jess saved her life. She smiled at the memory. The bridge wasn’t as much fun as the rope but it was a gesture from Jess that showed how much he cared. He lead them to the treehouse and they climbed inside.

“Here it is.” Jess smiled. Leslie felt her eyes well up with tears of joy. Jess had set up a romantic picnic under the stars in their special place, candlelight and everything. “So what do you think?” Jess asked.

“I never imagined anyone doing anything like this for me.” Leslie whispered.

“You sure?” Jess asked. “Because you’ve got a hell of an imagination and of all the things you could imagine, this is one of the most likely.”

“Stop.” Leslie playfully shoved him.

“So do you like it?” Jess asked nervously. Feeling ever bold, Leslie moved closer to Jess, wrapping her arms around her neck, and pressed her lips to his.

“Does that answer your question?” Leslie smirked.

“I think you might need to repeat it. The answer got a little lost in translation.” Jess quipped.

“Gladly.” Leslie smiled as she kissed him once more. They stayed there all night, in their special place, under the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Short story. Hope you liked it. I was bored and had this movie on the brain so I thought I'd write this


End file.
